1959 Map of North Adams

About this map

The village of North Adams and the eastern edge of Hillsdale anchor this detailed look at rural Michigan at the end of the 1950s. The landscape is defined by its glacial history, featuring a chain of lakes including Baw Beese Lake, First Lake, and Second Lake that transition into the Hillsdale Municipal Airport grounds. Evidence of the region's shifting transportation and industry is visible in the corridor of the New York Central Abandoned railroad line, which once cut a diagonal path across the terrain near Lake Adams. Smaller hamlets like Osseo and Steamburg appear alongside local landmarks such as Stone Sch and several country burial grounds, including Mt Pleasant Cem and North Lawn Cem. The map also captures the early development of local recreation at the Hillsdale Country Club, situated along the lakefront before later 20th-century expansions.